Zone Sportsplex in Poulsbo Sidesteps Foreclosure

The Zone Sportsplex in Poulsbo, hurting from the recession and the failure of Westsound Bank, is working with a mortgage holder to avoid foreclosure.

That announcement came Friday morning at the Kitsap County Courthouse during a weekly session at which distressed properties are either sold at auction or taken off that day’s foreclosure list to buy time for owners and banks to reach agreement.

“What’s happened is a deal has been worked to postpone any foreclosure proceedings with the intent of working out a mutually acceptable deal,” said Rich Hecker, an officer with Finn Hill Properties, LLC, owner of the popular indoor sports and entertainment facility.

Finn Hill Properties is about $345,000 in arrears on its $4 million mortgage. The Kitsap County Assessor’s Office pegs its 2011 value at only $2.6 million. Finn Hill Properties taxes are up to date.

Meanwhile, it’s business as usual.

“The Zone Sportsplex will continue to operate as it has since it’s been opened,” Hecker said. The 42,000-square foot facility opened in 2007 and was purchased by Hecker’s group in 2009.

The trouble for the popular sports center started with the recession.

“Essentially, that facility was built — and the idea was conceived — in the height of the economy. And where the recession has impacted us the greatest is in the expectations of what The Zone would be at this stage in the game,” Hecker said.

The current level of business “is not enough to sustain the mortgage.”

While league activity has stayed relatively unchanged, advertisers who display their brand at the facility have pulled back.

That mortgage now is owned by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Colony Capital LLC, a Santa Monica, Calif., real-estate investment firm. Finn Hill Properties is still under the terms of the old Westsound mortgage, which Hecker calls unrealistic in today’s depressed commercial real-estate environment. Now, Finn Hill Properties is working with Colony Capital to create more favorable terms, which Hecker is confident will result in foreclosure avoidance.

The attempt to avoid foreclosure should be completed in a month or two, he said.

The Zone has an expansive year-round, climate-controlled facility that attracts patrons from throughout the north half of the Kitsap Peninsula. It offers baseball, softball, lacrosse, flag football and volleyball, according to its website. But its most popular offering is soccer for all ages.

It attracts about 30,000 visitors who come a total of 350,000 times annually.

Hecker’s group purchased The Zone from Ted Thetford and others who started it.

“We stepped in because we feel it’s a valuable facility for the community,” Hecker said.